It's no surprise that upsets make the NCAA tournament interesting

STEVE HELBER/Associated PressCornell's Mark Coury pulls down a rebound during the Big Red's victory over Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament on Sunday.Next time, I’m picking Northern Iowa.

Even if the Panthers play an unbeaten No. 1 seed, I’m picking them to win on my bracket, at least in the first game or two of the NCAA tournament. I know I wish I had picked them this year, and I’m not alone.

Tommy HicksI wish I had picked Cornell to beat Wisconsin, and I wish I hadn’t picked Villanova to reach the Final Four. I wish I had picked Murray State to upset Vanderbilt and I hadn’t picked Georgetown to reach the Final Four.

Yet it’s the surprise results that have made the NCAA tournament probably the best event in sports. It’s the Northern Iowas and Cornells and, in recent years, the Princetons and George Masons and Indiana States that have drawn fans — both casual and extreme — to their TVs to watch as many tournament games as possible. Those types of results have put the madness into March and the first few days of April.

There’s a reason March is mad and why college athletics, especially its championships — with one very notable exception — create great drama for its fans: parity. With scholarship limits and other factors, college athletics has leveled the playing field as well as can be expected.

The Notre Dames, Alabamas, USCs and Ohio States of the college sports world will always have an advantage based on tradition, conference affiliations and school size when compared to the Northern Iowas and Cornells. But events such as the NCAA tournament and the upsets that have become as prevalent as office bracket pools have proven the so-called little guys can match up with the big guys — and it’s not a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.

The NCAA tournament hasn’t become an anybody-can-win-it event just yet. It is generally believed that while 65 teams start the tournament, only about 15 or so have a legitimate chance to win the title. But the possibility is there and, especially through the first couple of rounds, there is an any-team-can-win atmosphere.

In the first 24 games of the tournament, four required overtime, three were decided by one point, six by two points and five by three points. Heading to the Sweet 16, four of the teams still playing are seeded ninth through 12th.

Some "little guys" are still alive and some "big boys" are already home. (I don’t think Kansas is in anymore.) A team with a high seed will probably win. Probably. But don’t try to sell that thinking to the players at Northern Iowa or Cornell.